Black Silk, Night Rain
by HardfacedQueenofMisadventure
Summary: Galinda gives in to impulse. The results are...unexpected. Or: Elphaba, Galinda, a silent dormitory, and hair. (Oneshot. Title taken from a passage in the Gregory Maguire novel.)


**Woo! First Wicked fanfiction ever. I'll admit it, this is just me shamelessly rhapsodizing about Elphie's gorgeous hair, and experimenting with the early stages of Galinda's friendship with her. I hope it's good, anyway. Enjoy!**

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It was only the subtle shift of mattress that alerted Galinda to the green girl's presence in the room. She was deathly quiet, her silence all the more pronounced after a day of Pfannee and Shenshen's incessant yet engaging prattle. As usual, there was a leather-bound book in her hands. The Frottican leaned over, atypically inquisitive as to what literary marvel had her roommate so enthralled tonight, but the print was too small for her to make out at a glance, and Oz forbid she should peer for longer than was necessary, lest she be spotted with her nose buried in a book!

Elphaba remained oblivious to this attention, eyes still downcast and focused, expression placid, though by no means _happy_. They might have been sitting in different rooms at opposite ends of the university for all the attention she was paying her. Not that that wasn't natural at all; she was known for her long episodes of sullen quiet. But… they had grown somewhat closer as the semester had progressed, hadn't they? Well, they spoke often, at least, outside of the boundaries of the classroom where they couldn't be spotted by wicked girls with slanderous intentions. Friendship or no, it was not her goal to become the topic of _negative _gossip. For Elphaba's sake as much as her own – the girl had no good reputation to speak of, and the last thing she needed was more spiteful attention. Those girls could be so sharp-tongued at times, catty to the _extreme_. Galinda sought to protect her roommate from as much of that as she could, not by defending her publicly – that would be social suicide – but by steering clear of her at all times when with her friends, drawing attention away from her instead of towards her.

In fact, drat it all, she'd become almost… fond of the strange green creature, the way one would become fond of a temperamental-yet-loyal housecat.

Elphaba let out the faintest of sighs, probably at some inward, private thought, and resettled herself atop the bed with her long, slender legs crossed beneath her, feet neatly tucked under, the subtle movement causing a thick sheet of her hair to brush against Galinda's bare upper arm for the briefest of seconds. She drew back slightly, startled. Elphaba seemed unaware that anything had happened, meditative dark eyes still fixated on tiny lines of text. But that tiny touch had awoken Galinda, tuned her in more deeply to her companion.

That hair… right from the start, Galinda had been certain that it was her roommate's best feature, not that there were very many good features to make a selection from. Her figure was virtually non-existent, bordering on boyish, her facial shape nastily sharp, and… well, the unusual hue went without mentioning, of course. But her hair was an _entirely_ different subject. Though the sheen of it reminded her of a Panther's pelt – yes, a Panther, Elphaba was far too bright to be compared to a non-sentient animal – that brief brush against her skin had revealed it to be far softer than she would have assumed. It hung dead straight beyond her bony shoulders, without a wave or a kink or a deviation, not a single hair out of place, her parting perfectly straight also, an emerald slash that was oddly mesmerising against the black. The flickering candlelight drew impossible-to-overlook attention to the glossy quality of it as well, and Galinda found herself foolishly wondering exactly what Elphaba used on her hair. Some sort of oil, or a tonic…?

Still lost in her silent pursuit for knowledge, the girl let out another small, quiet sigh, and rested her pointed chin in the palm of one green hand, balancing the book in her lap with the other. At this, a small strand of ebony hair freed itself to hang in front of her face. Galinda waited for her to move, to brush it back into place, but she did not, clearly far to engrossed in her book to care about something as trivial as a lock of hair. Oh… but it was annoying. _So _annoying. Really, how hard was it to move one hand and tuck the errant strand away? Galinda lasted about five seconds staring venomously at the offending hair, before impulse got the better of her and she simply tucked it behind Elphaba's ear.

The result was instantaneous: Elphaba pulled violently away with a low, startled noise as if she had been burned, and Galinda too withdrew, wondering if she could act natural and pretend the whole thing hadn't occurred at all, or somehow escape before Elphaba's caustic wrath could sear her alive.

But her dark eyes were devoid of rage, her brows merely brought together in an expression of _what-was-that? _Galinda blushed deeply, and looked away.

But when she chanced a glance back at Elphaba the girl was smirking to herself.

Neither girl spoke, there was little to be said. But when Elphaba lifted her eyes from the pages for the barest moment, Galinda made sure to return the smile.

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**There! Again, first Wicked fanfiction ever, so I hope it doesn't disappoint. I'm a little bit irritated with some of the paragraph sizes here... but I can't find logical places to divide them up any more... you can put up with that, right? Reviews (not mentioning paragraph size) would be an Oz-send, and thank you for reading!**


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